THE COMSTOCK MINES. 123 



speed of 400 feet per minute, which is employed at the Savage, it is easy 

 to see that the capacity of the shaft is large. Twelve cars per hour, 

 bringing 10 tons of rock to the surface, can be raised from depths now 

 reached in each compartment when necessary ; a hoisting capacity fully 

 equal to the means of transportation employed below ground, between 

 the stopes and the shaft. Under ordinary circumstances this dispatch is not 

 required or attained. Three hundred tons per day, including both ore and 

 waste-rock necessarily hoisted, is about the average duty required of the 

 Savage shaft during the past two or three years ; and this is easily performed. 



In the Savage, Gould and Curry, and other deep shafts of four compart- 

 ments, two of the three devoted to hoisting are commonly used for raising ore 

 or cars from the stations connected with the stopes, while the third compart- 

 ment is reserved for use in sinking the shaft, inasmuch as the bottom must be 

 kept clear of rock and water in order that the work of sinking may proceed 

 without interruption. Although the timbering of the shaft usually progresses 

 with about the same speed as the excavation of the ground, it sometimes 

 happens that the bottom is considerably below the last set of timbers and for 

 this reason in some shafts a bucket or kibble is used in the sinking compart- 

 ment, because that does not require guides or completed timbering as does a 

 cage. Such is the case in the Gould and Curry, where in the sinking com- 

 partment, as it is called, a bucket is used for hoisting from the bottom, while 

 cages are employed in the other compartments. In the Savage, however, 

 a cage is used in the sinking compartment, its use being made feasible by a 

 timber framework, made to fit the comjjartment and move between the guides 

 as the cage itself does. This frame is attached to the cable, and is of such 

 length that the platform on which the car stands may be lowered, at the 

 bottom of the shaft, eight or ten feet below the last set of timber, while the 

 upper end of the frame remains confined between the guides. The car thus 

 receives its load at the deepest point as easily as a bucket might, and 

 discharges at the surface with much greater convenience. 



The transportation of the men between the surface and the underground 

 works is done entirely by means of the cages. No ladders are employed for 

 the purpose. Twelve men ride at once upon the platform. A short time 

 suffices to put the entire force of laborers underground or to take them out. 



